While William Wordsworth is perhaps most commonly known for his romantic nature poetry, an expanded and complicated view of his work might mark it as foundational to the traditions of modern-day ecopoetry. Unlike other nature poets, Wordsworth was intimately aware of the less-glamorous aspects of life in nature; after a childhood growing up in and interacting with the countryside, Wordsworth lost his father to an illness induced by a night spent in the cold outdoors (“William Wordsworth”). When Wordsworth wrote of the beauty of nature, it is hard to imagine that he would have done so with a blindness to the dangers of the natural world. Perhaps it is this knowledge that informs and is reflected in his famous elegiac pieces (“William Wordsworth”). The poetic tradition of the natural elegy, largely contributed towards by Wordsworth, is certainly a major strategic feature of contemporary ecopoetry. For example, Ross Gay’s poem “Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude” powerfully concludes with a child’s warning regarding the future poor state of the planet. In speaking the elegy of the natural world, the child in Gay’s poem takes on a role arguably not too unlike that of many of Wordsworth’s pieces, even when the latter may have more often dealt with the human experience as opposed to the natural. (However, one could still argue that the two are inextricably linked).
In addition to Wordsworth’s contribution of the natural elegy, his work laid the groundwork for poetry’s role in political conversations. It has been noted that when touring the Alps in his college years, Wordsworth became acquainted with and passionate about the French radicals’ calls against tyranny (“William Wordsworth”). Wordsworth saw poetry and politics as tied, decrying the widespread use of elevated diction in contemporary poetry. Instead, Wordsworth advocated for the use of common language and a focus on feeling. Arguably, his views helped to set the precedent for the role of poetry in representing and sharing political and societal views. More specifically, through his poetry, Wordsworth depicted the modern troubles of man as boiling down to urbanization and the need for sensationalism that industrialism and conformity caused (“William Wordsworth”). In sharing this argument, Wordsworth elevated the natural world as the solution to societal issues. Notably, here he differs from the prototypical nature poet in that his romanticization of the natural world is not detached and uninformed, but rather shaped by his personal experiences in nature compared to urban spaces. It is still important to note, however, that in establishing his distinction between the merits of the natural and the urban, Wordsworth encourages the epistemological division between man/society and nature (unlike the work of some current ecopoets who highlight the overlaps between these two categories in an effort to complicate our understanding of how society interacts with the natural world).
In putting forth a blend of natural romanticism and elegy, Wordsworth’s poetry might have more to do with contemporary ecopoetry than it may be initially given credit for. In one sense, one can argue that contemporary ecopoetry subverts Wordsworth’s tradition by rejecting the oversimplified nature poem. However, a deeper consideration of the origins of Wordsworth’s work (his childhood encounters with the dangers of nature and the political basis of his poetry) might reveal that it might be better characterized not as romantic nature poetry but as a blend of the elegiac and a political call for a step away from societal structures such as tyranny and heavy urbanization and towards individualised life in the countryside. Certainly, Wordsworth’s themes are far from those of the contemporary ecopoet, but they might be acknowledged as closer than initially thought. Additionally, the time-withstanding success of Wordsworth’s work may provide a clue as to a valuable strategy for optimizing the impact of ecopoetry. There seems to be something to the measured celebration of the natural world while holding an awareness of its perils or elegiac moods. This blend of elevation and caution is indeed apparent in contemporary ecopoetry such as Gay’s “Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude,” in which the celebration of human interaction with the natural world dominates the piece but is not without a grave foreshadowing of loss to come. In this sense, Wordsworth’s poetry may be taken not as a pure antithesis to contemporary ecopoetry but as, perhaps, a (broad) guide.
References:
Foundation, P. (2021, May 30). Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/) [Text/html]. Poetry Foundation; Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/58762/catalog-of-unabashed-gratitude
Foundation, P. (2021, May 30). William Wordsworth (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/) [Text/html]. Poetry Foundation; Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/william-wordsworth
